A note by ATC Prerana
Prerana has been associated with iPartner India since 2014. During 2018, Prerana visited certain districts and blocks in Rajasthan to meet with families of girls who were rescued from commercial sexual exploitation from Mumbai, Maharashtra. Prerana subsequently released its report on the evil social customs of pushing young girls from families into the sex trade prevalent among certain communities of North-West India. During this time, iPartner who was keen on working with these communities on prevention and creating social awareness approached Prerana to discuss the possibility of making a positive intervention in one of the districts where the custom was rampant. Project Rakshan was thus proposed and launched in 2018. Prerana assisted in the initial conceptualization of the project. Prerana’s team (henceforth ref to as the ‘Team’) visited the project in September 2019 almost a year after the commencement.
Rakshan site visits: Day 1
Visit to Block level Community Livelihood Training Center, district – Tonk
The Team was introduced to Sita (name changed) who is a community mobilizer working for a Civil Society Organisation in Jaipur that has partnered with iPartner. The CSO has started an innovative project to prevent trafficking of young girls (intergenerational trafficking) into the sex trade from the Nat community in the Tonk district of Rajasthan. Sita herself belongs to the Nat community. She is married and has two children and has her house in the ‘Natto ki basti’ (the colony of the Nats).
*Note: Natto ki basti or Natto ka basti is a physically isolated part of a larger village. It is comprised exclusively of the Nat community. Baas or vaas means abode or residence.
While narrating about her family, Sita mentioned that her father had the rare opportunity to study up to the 5th grade which was quite significant at that time and in their community. He therefore got absorbed in a government job in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan. That is where she and her brother lived, received education, and were exposed to a different lifestyle, and numerous opportunities. These factors in her opinion are responsible for keeping her from getting inducted into the sex trade unlike most other girls from her community.
As per the 2011 Census of India, the Nats fall in the list of scheduled castes in the state of Rajasthan (Ref.). That being the case the Nat community of Rajasthan stands subjected to various discriminatory practices owing to their caste status. Historically they have been isolated from the society by the other castes. As per the dictates of the caste system they did not have any access to the institutions and common property resources like temples, ponds, wells, etc. With untouchability practice being legally banned, technically there is no restriction on accesses. However, each Basti has its own hand pump, well, temple or pasture land. They are forced to live on the outskirts of villages where they have limited access to basic amenities like water, health, sewerage, and education. They have been living on the geographical and socio-cultural periphery of the mainstream society. Members of the community face discrimination based on their caste and profession in their everyday dealings with other people in the village. There is a palpable social distance and distrust among the mainstream village and the Nat community. Many Nat women are recruited into the sex trade which adds to the overall stigma and discrimination they face as a community. Nat children are denied their right to quality education beyond the primary levels.
The Team visited the settlements of the Nats in two villages. Around 60% of the young girls and young women from these villages have been inducted into the sex trade, most of them located in faraway metropolises.
Sita narrated that in the past, the Nat community people mainly the men felt that running the sex trade with the women in their community was their tradition and hence a legitimate way of living. However, in the recent past they have become extra cautious while dealing with the outsiders especially with people from Delhi and Mumbai. Sita explains this by referring to three factors. Firstly, the Nat men have off late been trafficking (though she did not use the exact term ‘trafficking’) young girls from the needy families belonging to other communities and villages into the sex trade. The men have lately acquired the knowledge that there is something illegal about it.
Secondly, as compared to the past, off late, there have been repeated crack downs (raids) from the police parties coming from the metropolises like Delhi and Mumbai as well as some from the local police station who actually come in search of these outside girls who are allegedly trafficked into the sex trade by these men.
Thirdly, there also have reports about the repeated crackdown by the Mumbai police – the inquiries in which cases brings investigation trail and follow up actions to their settlements back in Rajasthan.
All these have led to an ambience of distrust, suspicion, fear and non-cooperation when the outsiders approach their settlements. They are also realising that what they considered as their way of life and hence legitimate is actually criminal inviting strict punishment.
It is critically important at this point also to understand that there is an increasing international opinion against allowing such well-oiled practices of human trafficking to continue under the garb of social customs or traditions. During the British rule as well as after independence, India had taken a strong position and legal measures against a similar practice of sex trafficking in the name of a sacred tradition of Devadasi. The stance continues undiluted even today. The Trafficking in Persons Report, globally popularly known as the annual TIP Report, released for the year 2019 by the USA government observes as follows,
Confronting harmful cultural norms and local practices
Cultural norms and practices play an important role in defining a country or society, but human traffickers have also used them to support, hide, or attempt to justify human trafficking. The Palermo Protocol specifically notes that exceptions cannot be made to the criminalization requirement based on cultural variations. It is important that governments examine how traffickers may exploit cultural practices to conduct criminal activity. In some cases, traffickers may take advantage of religious beliefs to coerce victims into servitude and it is important that governments seek help from and offer support to cultural and religious leaders taking strides to protect their communities from human traffickers. (P. 10)
Sita added, “There have been incidences when outside police have come for enquiry because girls in Mumbai and other cities got into trouble and so did some men from the community here”. Sita did not elaborate on what she meant by ‘trouble’.
She confirmed the previous impression and knowledge of the visiting Team that many adolescent girls from these (Nat) communities are initiated into the customary sex trade and the men (their fathers and brothers) do not do any gainful labour but live on the earnings of their daughters and sisters. She further clarified that the Nat men who marry do not send their wives to the cities for the sex trade. They use only their daughters.
It was understood that the girls from the Nat community who are sold into the sex trade sometimes fetch such an impressive earning for the family that it is considered economically unwise not to induct them into the sex trade and to get them married to live a household life. That may also be the reason why the system of dowry is missing in this community. Instead, there is a system of bride price wherein the prospective groom has to pay a hefty sum to the bride’s family in return of the girl. Very few Nat men thus afford to have a Nat girl as their wife. They have to go out in search of other community women as their wives. Such women are not inducted into the sex trade. Very few Nat girls are encouraged to get married and once married they are not allowed to entertain customers for prostitution.
Sita reported that unlike in the rest of India, where there is a traditional preference for boy child the Nat community prefers girl child as girls are a source of an impressive income. Confirming the prevalent impression that the birth of a girl is celebrated in the community, Sita said that the couples go on having children sometimes up to 8 or 10 until they get a girl child. The girls in this community are discouraged and actively stopped from going to school on starting menarche. Most girls drop out between the 5th and the 8th grade.
As per the recent trend, many of the post-pubescent Nat girls who have their relatives in Jaipur are first sent to Jaipur where they are groomed to be then sent to the dance bars of Mumbai and such other venues of shadow entertainment in other metros. Others are directly sent to the dance bars of Mumbai. In the last 10 years Bangalore city known for its IT hub has also become a popular destination of sex trafficking for shadow entertainment. Some young women considered as “lucky” by their community members also happen to be sent to Dubai and other Gulf countries for the purposes of providing commercial sex.
They are groomed to be presentable to the rich clients of the metropolises. Some of their clients in Jaipur are the landlords and former feudal lords of Rajasthan. In Jaipur as part of the grooming process these girls are taught to speak in English, given other soft skills and tips on dressing and make-up, to match the requirements of the dance bar and upper crust customers.
These stories were undisputedly and abundantly corroborated by the well provisioned and lavishly constructed residences right in the Nat settlements. It was obvious that some people were making significant money. The houses have linoleum tiles, with a car parked in a garage. Like the ‘Tin Roof’ phenomenon of Nepal, the house and the car stood as the evidence of the fact that a girl of that family was in the sex trade earning good money. The community members primarily the male members of the girls’ families enjoy all the material luxuries at the cost of their family girls and young women. Not having to take up a regular job or to do menial work too is one such luxury.
Besides the dishonour to the point of open condemnation, and physical and sexual violence perpetrated on the victim that are innate to the sex trade, these girls also suffer irreversible and at times fatal damage. Getting infected by HIV infection is one such damage. Sita confirmed that almost 50% of the Nat women who return from the sex trade are HIV positive. She also lamented that there were no health centres catering to their health problems of these women.
The Team entered two lavishly constructed houses in these communities, which had kitchen like the one seen in Mumbai apartments. Women in those houses wore gowns as observed in Mumbai. When asked they did admit that they bought gowns from Mumbai or asked the women coming from Mumbai to get the gowns for them.
The Nat communities were peculiarly monolithic in strongly denying any connection with the sex trade let alone having any involvement in sex trafficking. They are clearly at a turning point. From what once upon a time they were coerced into believing that selling their daughters and family women for the sex trade was their sacred tradition into realizing that it is a punishable offence and cannot be defended as a tradition.
To avert scrutiny and crack down they unitedly project that all the girls from their community go to school regularly. When asked how come the girls of the age 15 and above were just not seen in the villages they promptly explained that the grown-up girls were sent to Jaipur for further studies or to the neighbouring villages for schooling.
As per Sita, they do have small land holdings but don’t cultivate it themselves. Instead they lease out their land. The land holding is in the name of the men and not the women. It is this material evidence of the continuation of patriarchal and feudal social order, the denial of property rights, the lack of scope to choose optional life, that the induction of their girls into the sex trade strongly appears as a misogynist act of sex trafficking and not as a manifestation of their agency or a voluntary act.
When asked about the alternative livelihood options for these communities, she wasn’t quite sure as to what forms of livelihood would the women be willing to accept. Sita was of the opinion that women would be open to the options of alternative livelihood that required shorter training periods and faster returns, like making hand bags from cloth and selling them in the local markets. She doubts how would these alternative options provide a sustainable livelihood to the women from the Nat community.
Sita spoke about Geeta (name changed) who was in 8th std. and how she could not be protected when her family sent her to Mumbai. She says she saw her video on Tik-Tok recently and expressed her fear that Geeta must be working in a dance bar and also catering to sex buyers.
She also spoke of how they were trying to protect Rekha (name changed) who was then in the 9th std. and feared that her parents would send her to Mumbai, where her mother was working in a liquor bar. There was hardly an adult we interacted with who did not have knowledge about Mumbai.
Girls once in Mumbai or other metros send back home between Rs. 30,000/ and Rs. 40,000/-per month. Some of them are bought and booked/leased by agents for 4 to 5 years and these agents pay 4 to 5 lakhs as the initial lump sum payment to the families.
Sita said the smart and conventionally pretty among them get a chance to go to the metros and the ‘not so smart’ ones are supplied to the ‘local markets’ for the local customers.
‘Smart girls’ get rich customers and some of these customers keep the girls exclusively for themselves for some years. Such girls do not entertain other customers. Such costumers are also found in Jaipur as in the other metros, Sita informed.
It was observed that some young women happen to fall in love with their exclusive customers and splurge most of their income and savings on the customers in the end going penniless.
The CSO coordinator who accompanied the Team also shared that the Nat community is wary of outsiders as some of them (the Nats) were under the police scanner for kidnapping girl children from other communities, mainly from the Sansi community from Alwar. Such children are then raised and groomed in the Nat villages and eventually sold into the sex trade.
We spoke with a few young girls in both these villages and everyone knew how to operate a smart phone. They were familiar with WhatsApp, and were fans of Tik-Tok, a video sharing social networking service for creating and sharing short lip-sync, comedy, and talent videos.
Girls who go to the metros generally possess a smart phone and many who have rich customers also possess iPhones, said Sita.
The Project coordinator of the local CSO mentioned that girls are injected with the hormone oxytocin to make their breasts grow faster, but she also mentioned that it was hearsay and she came across no evidence to corroborate that.
The Team also interacted with a Self-Help Group of the women from the Nat community. The women were keen on meeting with the CSO staff to discuss their problems. The women spoke about their challenges with regards to garbage disposal and water supply and were keen on getting some assistance from the CSO. The women were open to accompany the CSO staff to the required govt. office to discuss these issues. No one spoke about the vulnerability of boys to sexual abuse or trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
Read about Day 2 here.
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